- “Walter Keller’s Love Affair with Sri Lanka,” 4 September 2011, https://thuppahis.com/2011/12/21/kellers-love-affair-with-lanka
Category Archives: life stories
Sri Lanka’s Constitutional Dilemma Today
Jayadeva Uyangoda, in The Island, 17 November 2017, where the title is “Our Constitutional Conundrum–A Commentary”
Sri Lanka’s current political debate on constitutional reform is significant for a variety of reasons. The Interim Report of the Constitutional Assembly has inspired a spirited opposition from Buddhist monks, reminding us of the similar opposition emerged in 1995 when Professor G. L. Peiris unveiled the August 1995 proposal of the People’s Alliance government. Although Professor Peiris has changed his political beliefs beyond recognition, the leading Buddhist monks, who continue to be very vocal on matters constitutional, have not.
Peter Rathgen to be Vice-Chancellor of Adelaide University from 2018
LUMEN: “New VC comes home” …. from https://www.adelaide.edu.au/lumen/issues/95962/news96043.html
Peter Rathjen, incoming Vice-Chancellor and President, University of Adelaide
In January 2018, Professor Peter Rathjen will become the 22nd Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Adelaide. An Adelaide graduate and Rhodes Scholar for South Australia, Professor Rathjen is only the third Adelaide undergraduate to rise to the position of Vice-Chancellor of this University, and the first in more than 70 years; he follows in the footsteps of Sir George Murray (1915) and Sir Herbert Parsons (1942).
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Lord Naseby Word-for-Word on The Farcical UN Reports on Eelam War IV
WION London, United Kingdom Nov 14, 2017, 12.21 PM (IST) Padma Rao Sundarji … AT http://www.wionews.com/world/un-fudged-sri-lanka-war-casualty-figures-uk-parliamentarian-says-citing-classified-files-24164
For eight years now, western nations and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva have slammed the Sri Lankan Armed Forces (SLAF) and the former Sri Lankan government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa for brutal human rights violations during Sri Lanka’s three-decade long civil war against the separatist terror group, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Of special focus for the West has been the last phase of the war that took place around the Nanthikadal lagoon in North Eastern Sri Lanka.
Filed under accountability, British imperialism, doctoring evidence, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, news fabrication, propaganda, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Harsha de Silva faces Geneva Court
Item in Daily News, 16 November 2917 with this title Sri Lanka taken important steps towards reconciliation- Dr. Harsha
National Policies and Economic Affairs Deputy Minister Dr.Harsha de Silva addressing the Third Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review of Sri Lanka which was held in Geneva yesterday said that for the first time in Sri Lanka’s history, a section of the National Budget for 2018 is expressly dedicated to reconciliation.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, Responsibility to Protect or R2P, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, war crimes, world events & processes
Camera in the Sky: Sri Lanka from Above
Sri Lanka: The Island from Above by Dominic Sansoni, Sebastian Posingis & Richard Simon …. Published by Barefoot Books
For years, Dominic Sansoni dreamed of photographing Sri Lanka from the air. Having extensively documented the island’s multicultural populace, its urban and rural beauties, its architecture, its culture and festivals and even its wars, he had come to be acknowledged as the most successful and artistically committed Sri Lankan photographer of his generation; yet he found himself still unable to attain the longed-for aerial perspective.
Dominic 
Sebastien
Filed under art & allure bewitching, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, economic processes, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, photography, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, wild life, world events & processes
The Early Phase of Sinhala-Tamil Rivalry in Ceylon, 1931-70s
Michael Roberts[1]
The factors promoting political agitation among the Sri Lankan Tamils since the 1920s, particularly the developments after Sri Lanka secured independence in 1948, have inspired a large literature.[2] Three turning points in the temporal progression of this agitation have often been marked: one in 1956 when an electoral transformation helped enshrine Sinhala as the language of administration and placed the majority Sinhalese peoples in a dominant position in the political dispensation; secondly, in the early 1970s when militant Tamils placed secession at the forefront of their demands; and, thirdly, in July 1983 when an anti-Tamil pogrom in the Sinhalese-majority regions that involved state functionaries as well as people from many walks of life alienated the mass of Tamils and sparked an expansion in the militant separatist struggle.[3]
Bandaranaiake in rhetorical mode
Filed under British colonialism, education policy, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, land policies, language policies, Left politics, life stories, LTTE, modernity & modernization, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, the imaginary and the real, welfare & philanthophy, zealotry
Fr. Michael Rodrigo Assassinated in 1987: A Man serving People …. All People
Alex Perera, in Sunday Island, 12 November 2017, where the title is different: “Thirtieth Death Anniversary of Fr. Michael Rodrigo”
“I am a Catholic in my religion, but a Buddhist in my culture” Fr. Michael
Thirty years ago, on November 10, 1987, while Rev. Fr. Michael Rodrigo O.M.I was celebrating the Holy Eucharist, he was shot and killed at his small shelter in Alukalawita, Buttala. Continue reading
Revelations in Britain: Lord Naseby undermines the received ‘Wisdom’ on Civilian Deaths
Michael Roberts, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, 12 November 2017 ... where the title is different and where verbal disparagement of the author and lively comments are likely to eventuate
Michael the Lord Naseby has set a cat among the British and international pigeons by extricating the reports of Lt. Col. Anton Gash (Defence Attache at the UK High Commission in Colombo in 2009) and presenting a summary review to the House of Lords. By immediately deploying Mandy Clark to interview Lord Naseby, Padma Rao Sundarji, the Foreign Editor of India’s first global channel, WION, drew upon his views and findings for the benefit of the world. This is something of a media coup.
Padma Rao Sundarji
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, doctoring evidence, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes
Reviewing the Statistical Computations on Civilian Deaths in the Last Phase of Eelam War IV
Lt. Colonel (Retd) Athula Lankadeva, in Sunday Island, 12 November 2017, where the title is “A Critical Analysis of UN Panel of Expert Report which says SLAReviwe killed 40,000 Civilians During the Last Stage of War” … highlighted emphasis has been inserted by The Editor, Thuppahi
The Sunday Times of 29 Oct carried an article referring to Lord Naseby on demanding to remove the war crime tag from Sri Lanka. Lord Naseby researched classified documents to find that UN has fudged the casualty figure of 40000 civilians killed during the last phase of war in Sri Lanka whereas it was a guess by the UN Panel of Experts (POE) better known as Darusman Commission. According to the classified documents filed by then British Defence Attaché in Colombo Lt. Col Anton Gash, the civilian killed from Feb 1 – 26 April 2009 is 6432. The figure could be higher with the civilian deaths occurred within next 3 weeks. However, the total civilian deaths included civilians killed due to collateral damage during combat operations by the Armed Forces against LTTE, civilians killed intentionally by the LTTE by design and deaths of LTTE combatants dressed in civilian clothes.
In this photograph released by the pro-LTTE website TamilNet.com on May 2 are what they say show some of the 64 people killed and 87 wounded by shelling at a makeshift field hospital in Mullivaikal…In this photograph released by the pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) website TamilNet.com, obtained by Mercy Mission, on May 2, are what they say show some of the 64 people killed and 87 wounded by shelling on May 2, 2009 at a makeshift field hospital in Mullivaikal, in the south of the last scrap of land held by the guerrillas. The military denied the report saying the LTTE may have set off explosions near the hospital. Sri Lanka has disregarded heavy Western pressure to call a truce to protect tens of thousands of civilians trapped by the LTTE in the war zone, a 5-square km (2-sq mile) strip of coast. It is difficult to get a clear picture from the war zone, which is generally off-limits to outsiders. REUTERS/www.Tamilnet.com/Handout
Island 29 April 2009
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, doctoring evidence, Eelam, growth pole, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, tolerance, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, war crimes, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes, zealotry
